The sorting of mail is a very complex, time-consuming task. In general, the sorting of mail is processed through many stages, including front end and back end processes. For example, these processes include reading delivery information, and sorting and/or sequencing the mail in delivery order sequence. These processes can either be manual or automated, depending on the mail sorting facility, the type of mail being sorted such as packages, flats, letters and the like. A host of other factors may also contribute to the automation of the mail sorting, from budgetary concerns to modernization initiatives to access to appropriate technologies to a host of other factors.
Also, the delivery of mail is known to be critical to commerce and the underlying economy. It is thus critical to commerce and the underlying economy to provide efficient delivery of such mail in both a cost effective and time efficient manner. This includes, for example, reading delivery destination information from the mail, and arranging the randomly deposited mail into a sequential delivery order for delivery to a destination point based on the destination information.
In current sorting processes, mail pieces are automatically sorted using sorting and/or sequencing machines. In one type of sorting and/or sequencing machine, a series of pinch belts, in combination with logic and optical character recognition (OCR) systems used to capture destination information is used to automatically sort and/or sequence the mail pieces. These types of sorting and/or sequencing machines are designed for a single type of mail piece with a certain form factor. For example, these machines may be limited to sorting only envelopes, while another machine may be designed specifically for only flat type mail pieces.
Advantageously, a new generation of machines is currently being designed and implemented that can automatically sort mail pieces of many different form factors on the same type of machine. These machines use folders (containers) which are designed to hold many different types and sizes of mail pieces. To the benefit of sorting facilities, only a single type of machine is now required to sort and/or sequence a host of different mail pieces, from postcards, to envelopes, to flats, etc. This type of system is disclosed in application serial no. PCT US/2008/10715, filed on Sep. 12, 2008, the contents of which are incorporated by reference in its entirely.
Residual mail pieces (as well as large or non-standard sized mail pieces), in many instances, are sorted manually, which considerably increases the time required to sequence all of the mail pieces into a delivery point sequence. Residual mail pieces may be those mail pieces that could not be automatically sorted due to, for example, size (e.g., too thick or too thin), damage (e.g., crumpled, taped, etc. mail pieces) or other reasons that might cause a jam the pinch belts in the sorting and/or sequencing machines.